2010 Helmet-Cam Retrospective

Let me start by saying that, in general, I think it’s kind of pretentious to do a retrospective-year-in-review-type post, because doing so implies that a) the blog is more important/has a bigger audience than it actually does, b) the year was somehow exceptional or notable, which it really wasn’t (with the obvious though admittedly not-world-shattering exception that it was the first year I had a helmet-cam), c) even if it was an exceptional year, that I would somehow be in any way more qualified than any other Average Joe to, er, retrospect it, d) that the visual content of this blog somehow merits review/re-posting, and e) I think they always come off as a wee pit pretentious.

But, I’m doing it anyway, because a) I’ve been looking at a bunch of old helmet-cam clips this past week, which have really highlighted the remarkable changes in the living world over the course of the year, b) it allows me to get a post up during this quasi-nether-week without doing any real* research, and c) I guess, if we’re completely honest, I am just a wee bit pretentious.

*Just to be clear- the issue here is that I am lazy- not that I am unimaginative, or in any way out of cool post ideas. In fact I have a great two-fer brewing for next week, about a cool predator and hearing.

I get this weird thing about seasons every year. In the Summer I’ll be walking around in shorts and a T-shirt, maybe hiking or biking past some spot in the woods up in the mountains, and I’ll think that in just a few months, the forest all around me will be leafless, freezing cold, and under several feet of snow. And while I know it consciously, I just can’t really believe it. It just doesn’t seem intuitively possible that the same place could be so different in such a short time. Then 6 months later, skiing or what-not in the backcountry, I’ll have the exact opposite experience, looking around at the frozen silent forest, trying to imagine it green and leafy and warm and full of flowers and hummingbirds and dragonflies, and I just can’t really believe that it’ll be that different so soon. That all this snow will somehow melt away and the dead forest will just come back to life.

Tangent: I’ve been fascinated by the place-change effect of seasons for a long time, since long before starting this project, or even knew anything about forests. In the summer of 2001 I decided to photograph the same spot on the same trail weekly throughout the Summer/Fall. I didn’t see it through, but still have some of the old photos, reposted below.

During past winters I’ve sometimes reality-checked myself by looking through photos from the preceding summer, which helps, but a still photo is just that- a still. But this year, looking at old video-clips, I’ve found a connection to the past cycle of seasons I never managed to experience before.

So anyway, I started to do a kind of a month-by-month helmet-cam retrospective, intending to document the change of seasons and be all kind of artsy and such, but by the time I got to May, I thought, “Man, this is a lot of singletrack through leafless scrub-oak footage…” So instead, I’m just going post a bunch of my favorite helmet-cam clips from 2010. Here we go:

The Clips, Already

Some of the best early season clips I got were down South. This is a portion of the descent of Upper JEM outside of Hurricane, UT, traversing the upper 3 members* of the Moenkopi formation. The trail is lined mainly with Blackbrush and the occasional Utah Juniper up top, with Rabbitbrush and Mormon Tea joining in lower on down. I love the flow of this clip, the way the land changes color as we tranisition between geologic members, the weird light and ominous clouds. Pine Valley Range in the distance.

*Upper Red, Shnabkaib, Middle Red

Tangent: Yes, that’s right. The helmet-cam was my Christmas present last year. What’s that? What did I get this year? Well, I received several nice gifts, but one of the most interesting was a pair of Eyeclops Nightvision Infrared Binoculars. They’re not real night vision binoculars, like the kind of light-amplifying devices used by the military and such, but rather an infrared flashlight attached to a camera-viewer. It’s a fun little toy and I hope to use it for things like night-time bug-hunting, maybe checking out scorpions and such down in the desert come spring.

But in playing around with it (pic below, left = living room chair viewed in darkness) , I discovered a curious and unexpected side effect, which is this: it appears that artificial hair coloring doesn’t show up in infrared light. [I actually have a great photo that displays the effect, but unfortunately I can’t post the photo here, for reasons I can’t really get into.*] Meaning that when you look at someone with colored hair through the infrared viewer, their hair looks gray or white. You can actually pick up the viewer, scan a room full of people, and instantly see who’s dying their hair- Isn’t that freaky??

*Because Awesome Wife would likely leave me if I posted it. If you’re a real-world friend and want to see it, email me- it is way, way freaky.

Back in March I was in the same area with the team, and filmed this clip of the road descent into La Verkin with Teammate-Perry. I like this one for the rush of speed, as well as the physio-geographic significance: We’re crossing the Hurricane Fault here, dropping off the very, very Western edge of the Colorado Plateau and into the Basin and Range country, which extends clear to the Sierra Nevada.

Further down in the Mojave, this clip is from outside Blue Diamond, just outside of Las Vegas. The riding is slow and light dim, but I love the otherworldly feel of this ridge, following the faint singletrack, as well as the sense of solitude and open space just ~20 miles from the spawl and noise of the city. The tall yuccas alongside the trail are Spanish Dagger. Spring Range in the distance.

OK, this one isn’t helmet-cam, but I’m including it anyway. It’s driving across a wash in the Mojave, specifically Beaver Dam Wash, the lowest point in Utah. I love the blast of sun and green and water all together way out in the middle of this dry, spiky expanse of desert.

Tangent: What’s that? You’re wondering what else I got for Christmas. Well I got whole bunch of great books on my latest obsession, er, I mean interest- history of the first peoples in the Americas, and in the Great Basin in particular. (My recent rock art encounters have piqued my curiosity.) And I got some CDs and some more of that quick-drying underwear, and oh, yeah, this:

OK, so I bought myself that one…

Back up in Utah, this is one of one of my favorite stretches of Gooseberry Mesa, the South rim. Following Hunky Neighbor here, we’re rolling across the Shinarump Conglomerate, which marks the transition from Moenkopi to Chinle formations. About a minute in we roll up onto the next Chinle member “up”- the Lower Sandstone Member. We’re passing by Blackbrush, Mormon Tea, Cliffrose, Turbinella Oak, Utah Juniper and Singleleaf Piñon. Little Creek Mesa in the distance.

Closer to home, a couple of May bird-sightings. Here’s a male Black-Headed Grosbeak singing alongside the Shoreline Trail up above the Capitol…

And here’s a soaring Red-Tailed Hawk from Jack’s Peak. Oquirrh Range, Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island and Salt Lake Salient* in the distance.

*No, I haven’t explained this yet- it’s the geologic formation that comprises what I generally refer to as the “foothills” at the North end of Salt lake Valley. We’ll get to it when I do my Geology of the Wasatch post. (And yes, I will do a Geology of the Wasatch post one day and it will be awesome- my veritable Wasatch Opus. You will not want to miss it.)

Around the 1^st week of June the forests around 7,000 – 8,000 feet practically explode in greenery. Here’s a clip from up in Pinebrook. The leaves (mainly Maple & Aspen) are only partway out, still that light, lime green color, and the underbrush (mainly Ninebark & Snowberry) though green, is still low, only recently freed from the weight of the snowpack.

Just 2 weeks later, on the eve of the solstice, I took this clip from the Northern (and best) stretch of the Mid-Mountain trail, passing through several Aspen groves. You can’t see it in the clip, but the trail is lined with blooming Sticky Geranium and Wild Rose.

I did some cool summer road trips this year. This clip is from along the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, riding the Rainbow Rim Trail. The tall conifers are Ponderosa pines. In stretches we pass through stands of Gambel Oak and New Mexican Locust. Out at the point we roll by a couple of Colorado Piñons, and finish off with a corridor of blooming Cliffrose. This section smelled fantastic. (At 2:27 I glance into the inner gorge.)

This clip turned out cool. It’s the full moon rising over the Paunsaugunt as I pedaled the bike path back to camp. There are all kinds of cool conifers on the Paunsaugunt. It’s hard to tell in the dark, but I’m pretty sure we’re passing through Douglas Fir and Ponderosa.

OK, another non helmet-cam clip, but a good view of Redfish Lake up in the Stanley Basin of Idaho.

Earlier that same day, here’s a clip from up on the ridge on the West side of the lake (so on the right side of the previous clip) with some nice views of the lake. The trees on this stretch are Douglas Fir, and geologically I suspect I’m rolling over a glacial moraine, not from the last glacial advance, but from the one before, likely ~100,000 years ago.

Later on that vacation, here’s a clip from our campsite on the Lochsa River up in Northern Idaho.

Tangent: I just realized that reading the 2 previous tangents, you probably think that the only thing I care about around Christmas is getting presents. I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth. For while I certainly enjoy receiving gifts, I certainly know what really makes Christmas a truly unique, special and magical time, which of course is Making Fun of People’s Holiday Cards. Oh come on, you know you do it too. Every family has a Crazy Aunt or some such who sends out a whacky form letter every year that you and your significant other just can’t wait to get.* Actually, in all seriousness, I like Christmas card-form-letters**. Yes, sometimes they have a lot of detail, but they’re a great way to get caught up on the lives of friends and family you don’t get to see very often.

*Sadly, my own Crazy Aunt stopped sending us her card/letter a few years ago. I can’t figure out if she stopped doing it altogether, or somehow got wind of me making fun of it and took me off the list. It’s a shame, I loved it. It was always written in this super-happy upbeat tone, but kept mentioning things that seemed borderline inappropriate for a Christmas card. Actual line from a past edition: “After breaking off his engagement, Tad*** bought a VW Rabbit and moved to California…”

**Except for the downer ones. You know, the ones that go, “It’s been a year of challenges for the Hetzweigs; Hal lost his job in May, Betty’s back in rehab, and we had to put down Rasputin this year, but we’re hopeful little Petey will learn to cope with his deep anger issues…” Gee, I’m sorry it’s been rough, but did you have to dump all this on us the week before Christmas? Couldn’t you have emailed me or something back in October?

***Not his real name.

The truth is, there’s only one type of holiday card that drives me batty, and that is the Card With New, Unidentified, Unannounced and Unexplained Family Members. I’m not talking babies or pets here- I’m talking adults. Several years ago one of my cousins sent us all a card with a picture of him, his wife, their 2 teenage sons, and… another teenaged boy. We don’t see this cousin but every few years, but so far as we knew, he’d always had 2 kids. Could we have somehow missed one over the years? We doubted it. The card had no explanation, and we chat so infrequently with him, his parents or his siblings that there wasn’t a smooth way to just call him up on some other pretext and say, “Oh, BTW, who’s the other teenager on your Christmas card?” And because we felt awkward asking, by the time the next year’s card came around (again, with mystery teen) it was too late to ask, and so… anyway it was like 2 or 3 years before we were clued in*.

*He was a teen from a troubled home who played basketball with their sons and whom they took in and became his legal guardians. A totally awesome, inspiring story. I just wish they’d noted it in the card so we weren’t scratching our heads (and then semi-faking like we already knew) for so long…

This year, we got a card from AW’s cousin, a single(?) man with a young son. The card said, “Happy Holidays from the Jones* Family” and had a photo of the cousin, his son, a middle-aged woman and 3 teenaged girls. Who are these people? No note, no names, no nothing**. None of these women were in his card last year. We hadn’t heard of a wedding or even a serious girlfriend and suddenly we get the Brady Bunch Christmas card… We are totally clueless…

*Not his real name.

**Which is ironic, because this is the kind of Christmas card that totally merits a lengthy detailed form-letter…

Closer to home, the Wasatch Crest always makes for good video. This clip is from SkiBikeJunkie, Coryalis and my 83-mile Fourth of July Super-Crest tour. You can tell by the low brush/grasses and the light Aspen leaves that it’s still early in the summer. In addition to the usual Wasatch characters, we pass a number of Limber Pines between around 1:00 and 1:20.

For comparison, here’s a piece of that same stretch, exactly 2 months later. Check out how much higher (and drier) the grasses are, and how the Aspen leaves are now a dark, mature green.

This next clip I like- even with the problematic lighting- because it’s one of my favorite stretches of Great Western Trail, and also because it’s my only helmet-cam clip of, er, me. SBJ was kind enough to film it later during the Super-Crest ride. The conifers in the shady sections here are mostly Engelmann Spruce, which do real well on these North-facing slopes*

*And have been doing even better following a century+ of fire suppression in the Wasatch.

Here’s part of that same stretch 3 months later, the trail now lined with fallen Aspen leaves. Passing through the darker Spruce stands, the golden underbrush seems almost to glow, lighting up the forest from below.

The colors peaked in mid-October. Here’s another stretch of Mid-Mountain, about 2 miles North, and 4 months after, the Solstice-Eve clip up above.

Later in the Fall we returned to Gooseberry, where I took this clip following Fast Jimmy through Piñon-Juniper along the rim, with glimpses of the banded Moenkopi formations below.

In mid-November I followed Cory on this high-speed descent down into City Creek. The oaks and maples are bare, the grasses wilted and brown, the sky gray. The landscape is practically begging for snow. We’re rolling over conglomerate soils here, eroded down from the tertiary conglomerate cliffs above. I’ve been trying to keep up with Cory on the downhills for 15 years now, and he just seems to be getting faster. We hit 29.9mph on this stretch.

I saved my favorite clip for last. It may seem like an odd pick, and my feelings aren’t hurt if you don’t like or get it. It’s slow and meandering, I’m alone, the scenery is unspectacular, and the trail rather undefined. It’s the descent of a side trail* off Mid-Mountain trail during the peak bloom of Serviceberry on the day before the summer solstice. The video’s slow and poky, but when I watch it I feel the sun on my neck and smell the brush all around. I feel the Serviceberry brushing my arms, the Sagebrush scratching my shins, my flexed stomach flat on the seat and the braking-burn in my forearms**. For me, this clip is Summer.

*Lower Finesse.

**Because yes, I am a Luddite and ride with v-brakes. Or rather rode. Did I mention my new bike?

It was a good year. The next one will be great.

Best Gift Ever

For weeks Awesome Wife has been bugging me to tell her what I want for Christmas. Clothes? Gear? Books? What do I want? She thought she’d come up with a great gift idea when I lost my camera, but her hopes were dashed when Fuzzy found it the next day.

The problem is that I’ve reached that age where, if there’s some thing I want, well I generally just go buy it. I really have pretty much everything I need. Of course AW and I still buy each other nice gifts, but generally, whatever major gift we give one another at holidays is something we’ve pretty clearly specified.

Thinking about this recently, I thought about how it’s one of the things I miss about being a kid. Remember how, some years, you’d get a Christmas gift, and it was something you completely didn’t expect, maybe hadn’t even thought of, and yet it was totally the Best Gift Ever? Remember how incredibly happy that made you? That’s what I miss about being a kid at Christmas.

The ideal Christmas gift would be something that made me feel that way, that didn’t cost a lot, and that I never had even thought of. Oh, and it would have some kind of connection to baby Jesus, too, since, well you know, it’s Christmas.

Yesterday when I got home from work, the package from Fuzzy had arrived. Just as he’d promised, it contained my camera which I’d lost on Luke’s Trail, now safe and sound.

Side Note: Probably the nicest thing* about recovering a lots camera is recovering the photos you hadn’t yet uploaded off it when you lost it. I’ll share just a couple here.

*In fact, from a financial standpoint, losing the camera wouldn’t have been as big a deal as I’d feared. Over the last year or so prices on point & shoots have plummeted. If you’re looking for a last minute Christmas gift, you can pick up the updated version of my camera for about $110. I’ve had it for 18 months, abused it thoroughly, and it’s still working great.

A nice view of the Little Grand Canyon of the San Rafael River:

Here’s a cool zoom from along the rim of Good Water Canyon. The circled area shows an apparently recent cliff-break/slide KanyonKris spotted, which you can make out from the bare, vegetation-free slopes below.

Here’s a better shot of the “pavement-slab” formation in a broken-off chunk of Carmel rim rock:

From a bit later in the day, here’s a better close-up of the “angel” anthropomorphs down at Buckhorn Wash:

On the way out we had a nice Pronghorn* spotting:

*I blogged about Pronghorns in this post. Man, it is like I have a post for everything.

This shot from Price (top of Luke’s Trail) isn’t great, but it clearly shows the relative rockiness of the pediment mantle which the trail lies atop of. We’re looking West, and in the background the line of the Book Cliffs is bending around to the South.

The Gift

But the package also contained something else- a bumper sticker. And not just any bumper sticker, but one that was the absolutely best, most spot-on, perfect-est Christmas gift for me ever*.

*And which will nicely compliment my existing stickers.

[SCROLL DOWN]

Thanks Fuzzy! And Merry Christmas, everybody. Remember, don’t make Baby Jesus cry; fix your bike already.

Friday Helmet-Cam Filler/Teaser

I was hoping to get another post up this week, but I think it’ll be Monday. Theme will be Filling In Blank Spots, with some way cool geology, mtn biking and archeology to boot.* Here’s a quick teaser-filler, starring KanyonKris:

*Oh, and it’ll also have a bunch of tangent-footnotes related to my current and past Half-Baked Theories on Crime, Warranties, Insurance and Banking, which I already know because that’s what got me bogged down and behind schedule.

Desert Helmet-Cam Filler

I’m not going to get a real post up this week, so here’s some helmet-cam filler from last weekend. Several of us- Coryalis, Clean Colin, Young Ian, Vicente, KanyonKris, Fast Jimmy, Hunky Neighbor, Thorn*, Westy-Tom** and I- spent the weekend down on Gooseberry Mesa and had an awesome time. The weekend included perfect weather, stupendous riding (including 2 new fantastic trails), world-class star-gazing and Vicente’s out-of-this-world paella.

*That’s not a nickname- his name’s really “Thorn”. Or maybe it’s “Thorne”; I didn’t ask how to spell it. Anyway, his name was the subject of several painfully bad puns when he got an actual thorn*** stuck in his foot.

**Because he drives one of those VW “Westy” vans. Sorry, I am totally running out of clever nicknames.

***Actually, I’m pretty sure it was a spine and not a thorn. I explained the difference in this post. Man, it is like I have a post for everything.

It’s a shame I don’t have more time to post this week; I had 2 good post ideas from the trip: an All About Prickly Pear post, and/or an Exposure* post, and why some people- like me- absolutely love it. Maybe I’ll get to one or the other next week. Anyway, if you want a real post about Gooseberry, you can check out the previous posts I’ve done on the super-cool geology and fascinating botany of the mesa.

*To be clear, I am talking about this kind of exposure. Not the other kind.

Tuesday Foliage-Cam Filler (2)

The Grand Canyon backpack series will resume tomorrow with a botanical/ pharmacological extravaganza. I’ve been traveling a bunch (for work) since returning, in the Midwest last week and Florida this week.

But I managed to get out this weekend and was surprised at how great the colors still are up around the 8,000 foot level. Here’s a clip along the North end of Mid-Mountain trail. For plant geeks, the still-green shrubs lining the trail on the left at 0:10 and again at 0:30 are Tobaccobrush. You can clearly see likely clonal boundaries all over the place, especially with the Aspen stand I pass through starting at 0:48 and the Gambel Oak stand I roll past at 1:23.

It’s been the nicest Fall I can remember in the Wasatch. I’ll be sad to see it end.

Naked Photo Filler

I’m back. Arizona Steve and I did 5-day backpack into a North Rim tributary of the Grand Canyon, a trip which included beautiful views, ancient rock art, hallucinogenic plants*, hanging gardens, epic stargazing, high-exposure scrambling, getting lost, getting found and of course utterly fantastic geology.

*No, we didn’t smoke dope. Besides, Maryjane’s not hallucinogenic.

If I had unlimited time I’d do a whole series of posts that covered all of these topics, but I’m swamped the next week+ with work/travel, so I’m not sure yet when/what I’ll post about. If you’re a regular reader and have a topic preference, feel free to speak up*.

*“More photos of you naked…” is not a valid topic preference.

In the meantime, I’ll just share the photo below, mainly because a) I love the photo* and b) now I can say I posted a naked pic of myself on the Internet.

*Yes, but do you know why I love it? Check out the color of the water. That’s how the Colorado used to run, before they dammed it.

Tuesday Foliage-Cam Filler

It’s going to be another 1-post week, due to work, travel and other stuff. It’ll be another astro-post, and I hope to have it up tomorrow. If I had more time I’d try to do some sort of foliage-related post, as the colors in the Wasatch* have been spectacular these past couple of weeks.

*I explained how and why leaves change color in this post and this post, a topic I revisited in this post and this post. Man, even in a a filler post, it is like I have a post for everything.

The forecast indicated that the Summer-y weather would finally end Monday, so Saturday afternoon I hitched a ride* up to Pinebrook, pedaled up to Mid-Mountain, climbed over the saddle and then rolled down the entire Mill Creek drainage home. Here’s the initial descent off the saddle:

*With Rainbow Spirit Paul, who was headed up for a dog-run.

Down lower, the singletrack wound me though aspen and PLTs (mostly Engelmann Spruce) over and over. The aspens sometimes closed in, creating a “Golden Tunnel” effect (check out 1:00 – 1:05):

And in the PLTs, the yellow understory seemed to light up in the dark Spruce forest and fallen aspen leaves sprinkled the trail with flecks of gold.

Even the road section between the Big Water and Elbow Fork trailheads had some great scenery. The stand of Narrowleaf Cottonwoods lining the road at 0:38 is one of my favorite spots in the whole canyon.

A couple months from now when everything’s gray and brown and cold, it’ll be nice to play these clips in my office…

Monday Filler: Fire Moon and Falling Leaves

Last night Bird Whisperer and I drove up after dark to the top of Emigration Canyon to check up some stars for a couple of Astro-Posts I’m hoping to do this week*. A big wildfire was raging down in the South end of the valley, obscuring the sky with smoke.

*Here’s a great tip. If you are the parent of a kid approaching puberty who is showing the typical signs of being-more-into-his-own-thing**-than-hanging-with-Dad/Mom, a great thing you can do together is go stargazing after his/her designated bedtime. BW was way into it; we’ll probably head up again tonight.

**Which right now is- I am embarrassed to say- Dungeons & Dragons***. He’s obsessed with it. To be clear, he’s had obsessions before- he’s sort of a Serial Obsessive. First was Thomas the Tank Engine, then it was dinosaurs, then it was wild animals in general (mainly carnivores), then Pokémon, then Yugi-Oh!, then birds, then back to dinosaurs, and now D&D. But this D&D obsession seems deeper than any of the previous ones. Oh well, as AW points out, the upside of your kid being a D&D geek is you don’t have to worry about him getting anyone pregnant anytime soon.

***Full confession: I was a D&D nerd for a couple of years, though my obsession didn’t start till around age 15. I was into it until I got a motorcycle and a girlfriend.

Fire Moon

Though we only climbed ~1,400 feet, it was enough to put us up above the bulk of the smoke. Here are contrasting shots of the moon from our back yard, and then 20 minutes later at the head of the canyon.

Side Note: Yes, I know these shots suck. That’s not the point. The point is the color. Isn’t that “Fire Moon” wild? What’s interesting BTW, is that my daytime-only camera was better able to handle the contrasts with the muted “Fire Moon” than the (relatively) un-obscured moon. On the “Fire Moon” shot you can make out actual features on the lunar surface…

Anyway, stay tuned for a couple Astro-posts this week.

Falling Leaves

Also, while I’m doling out filler, I’ve decided that the Wasatch foliage this year is so freaking spectacular that I’m going to include gratuitous foliage shots and clips in my posts whenever I feel like it, completely a propos of nothing (pic right = Twin B in front of Bigtooth Maple Sunday @~7,500 ft). In Friday’s filler-post I mentioned the colors of the forest understory. Especially stunning in spots is the contrast between the typical understory yellows and the occasional blood-red of the Ninebarks. Usually the reddest thing is the Wasatch right now are the Bigtooth Maples, but occasionally the Ninebark will outshine even them, with a deep, blood-red unmatched by any Maple. When you encounter it trailside contrasted with yellow- such as in this patch mixed with Snowberry (along the West Perimeter trail in Pinebrook) it’s fantabulous.

Later in the same ride, I caught this nice helmet-cam clip toward the bottom of “X” trail*. Pay attention (and play it in high-def/720p) - golden maple leaves are floating down onto the trail as I ride through.

*”X” is really what we call it- I’m not being coy about the name or anything. Many of the Pinebrook trails my friends and I have named ourselves over the years, as we’re ignorant of what “real” names, if any, they may in fact have. The “X” in this case refers to the X-like junction with Mid-Mountain trail, visible at the very end of the clip.

Next Up: Back to the sky!

Blue. Check.

I finally came across blue elderberries this morning* (pic left), in a place where I least expected them: at the very bottom of the Death Climb across from the zoo, right at the start of the “tunnel”. There they were, hanging down in big bunches.

*Because I had completely given up looking for them, and I am the kind of guy who can only find things when I am not looking for them.

I noticed BTW, that the “tunnel” is kind of interesting botanically. I don’t think I’ve ever really looked around there before because I’m always heads-down, granny-cranking up while trying to work back and forth across the trail-centered perma-gully without spinning out. Need to just go back there for a stroll…

Somebody flipped the switch this week on the Maples up in Pinebrook. Wow. And the understory’s started getting all bright and yellow, almost glowing, like it’s lighting up the forest from below.

The last 15 seconds of that clip are my absolute favorite stretch of Mid-Mountain. Love that spot. Might be my new "Ash Spot".

Fat, Low & Orange: Catch-Up, Corrections and Filler

I’m traveling for work this week, hoping to work in part 3 of the Idaho vacation series, but having trouble carving out time. I’ve been traveling a lot lately, back down in the Acid Swamp last week, San Diego this week, and Boston next week, but hopefully I can wrap it up later this week or over the weekend.

Correction

In a comment to Part 2, KB was kind enough to alert me to a mis-ID*: my “pinedrop” was actually Spotted Coralroot, Corrallothiza maculata. There are 3 upsides** to this error. First, Pinedrop is way cool and totally worth blogging about; I’m glad I did so. Second, the Coralroot story is remarkably similar. It’s also a non-chloropyllous myco-heretroph. It’s associated with a single family of fungi, in this case, Russulaceae, which, like Rhizopogon, is mycorrhizal. So far so good.

*As I’ve mentioned previously, I welcome corrections. I make mistakes all the time. I’m not a botanist, zoologist, entomologist, zoologist, ornithologist, geologist, hydrologist, astronomer, or any kind of an expert on anything*** covered in this blog, and over 90% of the stuff I blog about is stuff I learned about the thing in question over the previous week. Though I do my best to get the facts straight, I don’t sweat it when I don’t. I have a day job. In fact I have several posts (particularly from year 1) where I have pretty major errors that I have it in my mind to go back and clean up sometime, but don’t know when I’ll get around to it.

**I am so glass-half-full it almost hurts…

***And really, I’ve never been an expert in anything- not my trade or hobbies or anything else. Yet my life has worked out just fine. If I were to start this project all over again from scratch, perhaps a better name for the blog would be “Perpetual Amateur.”****

****Blogspot url is already taken. Just snagged it over on Wordpress. You know, just in case…

Extra Detail: Something interesting about Russulaceae is its mushrooms, in which the stalk is comprised of spherical cells, unlike the stalks of most mushrooms, which are comprised of long fibers (hyphae). Because of this the stalks snap cleanly, and often with a crack, like a carrot.

Third, the error provides yet another- and this case absolutely fascinating- example of one of my pet loves in this project- convergent evolution. Pinedrop, as I mentioned in the last post, is a member of the Heath Family, Ericaceae, which in turn is a dicot (eudicot) family.

Coralroots (and there are over a dozen species, mostly native to the New World) belong to the Orchid family, Orchidaceae, which is a monocot family. In other words, these 2, remarkably similar-looking plants, which occur in like habitats, evolved non-chlorophyllous myco-hetermorphism completely independently. Pinedrop is more closely related to Oak or Cactus, and Coralroot more closely-related to Crabgrass or Joshua Trees, than either is related to each other. The two haven’t shared a common ancestor since probably the early Cretaceous. And yet, ~100 million years later, here are their descendants, pulling off practically the exact same schtick! Isn’t that incredible?

On the downside, I missed a great chance to blog about Orchids, something I’ve had in the back of my mind to do for over a year now. The 2 most diverse families of flowering plants are the Sunflowers (Asteraceae) and the Orchids (Orchidaceae), both of which have well over 20,000 generally accepted species. The success of, and diversity within these 2 families is stunning. I’ve said before that angiosperms long ago conquered the world, but one could almost say that Sunflowers and Orchids have conquered the world, with the rest of us just along for the ride.

Sunflowers I’ve done a half-decent job with, covering many examples and the family in general. But Orchids I just haven’t gotten to yet*, somewhat to my chagrin, because Orchids are fascinating, beautiful and wondrous, with thousands of amazing stories. I’m also charmed by the wonderful symmetry of the successes of the 2 families- one monocot, one dicot- and their clear testament to the fabulous success of two fundamentally different ways of being a plant. Clearly, orchids need to be blogged about.

*I considered tackling them a year ago in Costa Rica, but felt that the trip was too quick and my sightings too spotty to a good job of it. More recently I’ve intended to blog about White Bog Orchid, Habenaria dilatata, which I believe I’ve spotted in passing a few times…

But not this week. Not in a sleep-deprived-hotel-room-cranked-out-filler-post. So I’ll wait for another day. But I can’t resist touching on just one very relevant aspect of orchids, which is that if anything, they would seem to be perhaps even better suited for, or at least more inclined toward, myco-heterotrophism, in that all orchids begin life as myco-heterotrophs.

Orchid seeds contain no endosperm*. In order to germinate, they must obtain nutrients from fungi, and so an orchid seed cannot start growing unless it lands where a suitable fungus lives. After successful germination, the orchids get along photosynthesizing and such like most other plants, which exceptions like the Coralroots.

*I explained endosperm in this post. (The post may contain a minor error, highlighted by Enel in the comments, which I haven’t yet had opportunity to recheck. The post should otherwise be pretty solid.) Interestingly, horticulturalists are able stimulate orchid seed-germination without fungi, using nutrient-rich gels. Most orchids, BTW are epiphytes; I assume they get their start from fungi growing on trees.

So Coralroots, and other adult-myco-heterotrophic orchids, can be considered almost neotenous in the sense that they retain the seedling lifestyle into adulthood.

Anyway, cool plant. I learned something from the error.

Filler

I mentioned earlier that I’m in San Diego this week, here for my company’s annual user conference. I’ve been doing this conference for 9 years now, and I’ve done blog posts the last two years related to various tree-hunting adventures I’ve worked in on the side. This year’s conference, for reasons I can’t get into here, will most certainly be my last. I didn’t make it up to the mountains this time, but I made it to the beach.

Last Wednesday I spent the day in my company’s Ft. Myers, Florida office, my 3^rd trip there in as many months. On neither previous trip did I ever see the ocean; it was too far, not enough time, etc. But recent events got me thinking that I’d never been to a US beach on the Gulf of Mexico, and that if I didn’t go soon, it might be the case that such a visit may not be possible again in my lifetime*. So at 6:30, when I finally wrapped things up at the office, I jumped in the rental car and headed West.

*I’m talking of course about the BP spill. Though it looks like it might be resolved, there were a few weeks where I wondered if might be uncapped for years…

It was 7:30PM when I arrived at Ft. Myers beach, still warm and humid, but the sun low enough that I could walk comfortably across the beach parking lot barefoot. When I reached the sand, it was the softest I’d ever felt beneath my toes. Fine, white, almost talc-like. About 20 feet from the water the sand turned slightly damp, and hard, like pavement. I could see a couple of tracks where bicyclists had passed easily. It was unlike any sand I’d ever walked on.

When I touched the water I almost laughed. Warm, almost bath-like, if it had been any hotter out it would’ve been unpleasant. I waded in and was pleased to find that the baby-soft sand continued out underwater. I waded out probably 50 feet to waist-deep, then dove in. I floated around on my back for 15 or so minutes, watching the sun grow fat, low and orange. I mused that 2 rather crappy things- an oil spill and work travel to South Florida in July- had somehow led to me experiencing this totally cool beach, which I’d otherwise likely never have sought out.

Monday I was in San Diego with a few hours to kill. Again in a rental car, I pulled off I-5 on La Jolla Blvd. As I’ve mentioned previously, I was born in La Jolla (though have no memory of it) and over the years have stopped by there from time to time. I ate a sandwich overlooking the cove and the underwater park, thinking wistfully that I should’ve brought along a swimsuit, or figured out where to get some snorkel gear, or maybe even do a dive. I gawked at the Sea Lions for a bit*.

*Also worth a future post. I’m absolutely fascinated by the evolutionary paths of marine creatures with terrestrial ancestors, and especially by the apparent “in-between-ness” of pinnipeds.

Then I sat and stared for a bit, thinking about changes over the past year, and of those coming in the year ahead, while watching the passing flocks of pelicans*. Their flight seemed to hint at patterns I couldn’t quite catch, like whispers in the rustling of aspen leaves.

*Which I’ve mentioned in Utah, Mexico and now California. Need to do a post on them too.

I took the slow route back down to the city, hugging the beach. In the honky-tonk sprawl along Mission Beach, I passed a shop advertising cheap swimsuits. 10 minutes later I was walking barefoot on sand, this time beige and coarse-grained. The water was cold, probably 65F, and not especially inviting, but it may be a while before I’m on a Southern California beach again. I tucked my head and dove into my second ocean in 5 days.

Tuesday Helmet-Cam Filler

Didn’t finish Part 2. I’ll have it up by tomorrow morning. In the meantime, here’s some Helmet-Cam Filler.

Sunday SkiBikeJunkie, Coryalis and I rode a loop from my house (near the zoo) up Emigration, onto Mormon trail to Jeremy Ranch to Pinebrook to Mid-Mountain to Park City, up to Scott’s Pass, onto the Wasatch Crest, down Great Western into Mill Creek, Pipeline back down into the valley and home. 83 miles. Big day. Here’s a clip of SkiBikeJunkie rolling Wasatch Crest through the spine. (Both clips here can be played in HD.)

Bonus Filler

Down in upper Mill Creek Canyon, SBJ was kind enough to wear the cam for a stretch. Here’s yours truly rolling one of my favorite descents in the Wasatch.

Tune in tomorrow for Bachelor Weekend Part 2, which will be chock full of botany, geology, mammals, biking, and scenic vistas. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, it’ll be better than Cats. (And I’ll explain the geology behind both cliff bands in the new header photo, and the botany of the PLT groves in between them. Now that’s a geeky teaser.)

Kayak-Dave Runs LCC

No real post today, total filler. But it’s fun filler, because it solves a year-old mystery.

A year ago I did a post about run-off in which I mentioned that Little Cottonwood Creek runs right outside my office. One day a kayaker showed up, and I included a couple of photos in the post, mentioning that I had no idea where he took out. Now I know.

Yesterday he showed up again as I as walking out of the building and I stopped and chatted with him. His name’s Dave, he’s very cool, and he lives about a mile downstream, right by Wheeler Farms. So he walks up to our office, pulling his kayak on a skate. Then he puts in, plays in the eddy, and kayaks home.

But kayaking home means not only that he goes under the overpass shown in this clip, but that he runs the creek through the covered viaduct that routes the creek over I-215. The guy kayaks over the Interstate!

Last week the run-off was even higher- the highest we’d ever seen it, and supposedly running at levels not seen since the early 1980’s. Dave says that to run the creek when the water is that high, a kayaker has to flip over as he approaches the viaduct (and a couple of other underpasses) and stay flipped over till emerging at the other end.

Back to regular posting tomorrow.

City Creek Part1 : What a Difference a Month Makes

OK- I’m going to do 3 posts out of this one helmet-cam video. Today is mainly just teaser, but has a great before/after. Tomorrow I’ll have a Spring-catch-up, including a new wildflower*. And Wednesday** I’ll have a geo-post- all from the same video. How cool is that?***

*Not just any wildflower- a new monocot wildflower. Yes, that’s right- a new lily, blooming right now, in the foothills just above town.

**Well, hopefully Wednesday. Maybe Thursday. Or maybe next week- hey, I don’t know; it’s not like I get paid to do this, you know…

***Pretty F-ing Cool. That’s how.

As longtime readers know, I’ve been slacking this Spring. The previous 2 Springs I meticulously detailed each and every little bloom, leaf and weed. This year I’ve been goofing off with posts about everything from Race Camp to Vegas-Boondoggles to bribing Mexican cops to desert geology, totally blowing off Spring along the Wasatch Front. And that’s a shame, because we are having a glorious Spring. So I’m going to do a bit of quick catch-up, with the help of the helmet-cam.

Back in February, I did a post entitled “Bonk”, where I threw in a little snippet of this descent as helmet-cam video-filler:

On April 18, I filmed the same- but this time entire- descent, down into City Creek Canyon:

Side Note: BTW, the way these videos embed by default, they’re in low-def. You can watch them in high-def if you prefer. If it’s a YouTube* video, click on the lower right where it says “360p” and switch to “720p”. In Vimeo, click on the button on the upper right that says “HD is off” while the clip is playing and your mouse is over the video-screen. You’ll get an option to play the video in high-def.

*I use YouTube for shorter clips, Vimeo for longer ones. BTW, if there’s an obvious way to embed clips directly in high-def, please speak up.

Yesterday, May 16- 28 days later- I filmed the exact same descent* again:

*BTW, from about 4:04 to 5:16 is a stretch I blogged about 2 years ago in a post entitled “The Green Tunnel.” It still hasn’t leafed in all the way, but you start to get the tunnel effect in parts…

What a difference a month makes. I lose over 1,000 feet in this descent; notice the difference in the scrub oak leafing out from top to bottom. Also check out 2:36 on the left and 4:10 on the right, both of which I plan to blog about this week. Oh man, this’ll be fun.